SSG Tutorials — Static Site Generation Complete Guide

What Is SSG — Static Site Generation Explained for Beginners

Static Site Generation pre-builds HTML pages at compile time, producing static files that load instantly from CDNs without server processing.

SSG vs SSR — When to Use Static Generation vs Server Rendering

Static Site Generation and Server-Side Rendering serve different needs: SSG pre-builds at compile time, SSR renders per request. Choose based on content freshness and scale.

Next.js SSG — Static Site Generation with Next.js Explained

Next.js SSG pre-builds pages at compile time using getStaticProps and getStaticPaths, generating static HTML that loads instantly from CDN edge.

getStaticProps — Build-Time Data Fetching in Next.js SSG

getStaticProps fetches data at build time in Next.js, supplying props to page components and enabling fully static pre-rendered pages.

getStaticPaths — Generating Dynamic Routes at Build Time in Next.js

getStaticPaths defines which dynamic routes Next.js pre-renders at build time, generating static pages for each path in a dynamic segment.

Incremental Static Regeneration — Updating Static Content Without Full Rebuilds

Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR) updates static pages after deployment by re-rendering individual pages in the background without rebuilding the entire site.

Gatsby — Building Blazing Fast Static Sites with React

Gatsby is a React-based static site generator that uses GraphQL to query data from multiple sources and pre-builds optimized static pages.

Gatsby Source Plugins — Fetching Data from CMS, APIs, and Files

Gatsby source plugins pull data from external sources like CMS, APIs, databases, and local files into Gatsby's unified GraphQL data layer.

Gatsby GraphQL — Querying Data with GraphQL in Gatsby

Gatsby GraphQL provides a unified query layer for sourcing, transforming, and querying data from all connected plugins and sources.

Hugo — The World's Fastest Static Site Generator

Hugo is a Go-based static site generator known for its exceptional build speed, flexible templating, and built-in asset pipeline.

Jekyll — Static Site Generation with Ruby and Liquid Templates

Jekyll is a Ruby-based static site generator that converts markdown content into static HTML using Liquid templates and frontmatter metadata.

11ty (Eleventy) — Simple JavaScript Static Site Generator

Eleventy is a zero-config JavaScript SSG that supports multiple template languages and produces fast static sites without client-side JS overhead.

Astro — Modern Static Site Builder with Islands Architecture

Astro is a modern static site builder that ships zero JavaScript by default and uses islands architecture for selective client-side hydration.

Markdown Content — Creating and Managing Content for Static Sites

Markdown content management for SSGs involves structured frontmatter, content organization, taxonomy systems, and consistent formatting across large content sets.

MDX — Embedding JSX Components in Markdown Content

MDX combines markdown and JSX, letting you embed React components directly in content files for rich interactive documentation.

Headless CMS + SSG — Content Management for Static Sites

Combining a headless CMS with SSG lets content teams manage content in a friendly editor while developers build fast static sites.

SSG Search — Adding Search Functionality to Static Sites

Adding search to static sites requires client-side indexing since there's no server to process queries. Lunr.js, Pagefind, and Algolia offer different approaches.

SSG Image Optimization — Optimizing Images for Static Sites

Image optimization for SSGs involves responsive images, modern formats, lazy loading, and build-time transformation pipelines for fast page loads.

SSG Pagination — Splitting Content Across Multiple Pages

SSG pagination splits large content collections into multiple static pages with next/previous navigation, improving load time and user experience.

SSG Internationalization — Building Multilingual Static Sites

SSG internationalization enables static sites in multiple languages through locale-specific content files, URL structures, and build-time rendering per locale.

SSG Build Performance — Optimizing Build Time for Large Static Sites

SSG build performance optimization focuses on incremental builds, caching, parallel processing, content filtering, and efficient data fetching to keep builds fast.

Incremental Builds — Building Only Changed Pages for Faster SSG

Incremental builds only regenerate pages that changed since the last build, dramatically reducing build time for large static sites.

SSG Deployment — Deploying Static Sites to CDNs and Hosting

SSG deployment involves building static files, deploying to CDN hosting, configuring custom domains, and setting up CI/CD for automatic rebuilds.

SSG Analytics — Adding Analytics to Static Sites Without a Backend

Static site analytics uses client-side tracking with privacy-focused tools like Plausible, Fathom, or Google Analytics to measure traffic without a server.

SSG Mini Project — Build a Complete Static Site from Scratch

Build a complete SSG-powered blog from scratch combining Next.js, markdown content, image optimization, search, and deployment to Netlify.